Team USA takes the field tonight in Miami, looking to accomplish a feat only done once in five tournaments.<\/p>\n
A thrilling, eventful, breathtaking, and downright awesome showcase of the world\u2019s best players commences tonight as a new champion will be crowned.<\/p>\n
The 2026 World Baseball Classic features Team USA vs. Team Venezuela in the championship game.<\/p>\n
The United States is looking for its second WBC title (2017) and to bounce back from a 2023 loss in the title game to Team Japan.<\/p>\n
Venezuela has never won the tournament and is appearing in the championship for the first time.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the U.S. defeated the Dominican Republic in one of the most hyped baseball games of the century.<\/p>\n
It was the type of game you\u2019ll remember for years. Judge. Soto. Tatis Jr. Schwarber. Machado. Anthony. Guerrero Jr. Witt Jr. Caminero. The list goes on and on.<\/p>\n
Featuring lineups that boosted multiple future Hall of Famers, the two teams combined for three runs.<\/p>\n
The key reason why? Two Yinzers, and an adopted Yinzer, too.<\/p>\n
Paul Skenes took the mound against potentially the greatest lineup he\u2019ll ever face. Skenes delivered 4.1 innings of one-run ball. He allowed six hits, didn\u2019t walk a batter, and struck out two.<\/p>\n
The only blemish on Skenes\u2019 ledger was a solo home run by Junior Caminero to begin the scoring in the second.<\/p>\n
Tyler Rogers and Griffin Jax kept the DR off the board heading into the seventh. What followed was two Pittsburgh natives closing out the seventh and ninth innings.<\/p>\n
Mars alum David Bednar took the ball and found himself in a jam, facing second and third with one out in the seventh. The tying run was 90 feet away. The go-ahead run on second base.<\/p>\n
Bednar allowed an Austin Wells double and a Geraldo Perdomo single to bring the top of the Dominican Republic lineup to the plate.<\/p>\n
Facing Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. and Diamondbacks MVP candidate Ketel Marte, it would take a Herculean effort to walk off the mound unscathed.<\/p>\n
Bednar struck them both out.<\/p>\n
Both on 1-2 counts, Bednar deployed two devastating breaking balls to strike out two of baseball\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n
Bethel Park alum and Team USA closer Mason Miller shut the door in the ninth. A former pitcher at DIII Waynesburg, Miller came out firing 102 mph fastballs past the DR\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n
A one-out walk to Julio Rodriguez, followed by a wild pitch and groundout to move him to third, created another situation where the opposition had a runner at third base.<\/p>\n
Facing Geraldo Perdomo, Miller punched him out to end the game on a 3-2 pitch that looked like a ball, but was called strike three.<\/p>\n
The Yinzers, and adopted Yinzer, got the job done.<\/p>\n